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Patented Feb. 7, I899.

M. L. DEEBING.

' TOWING MACHINE FOB VESSELS.

(Application filed Oct. 16, 1895. Renewed Nov. 30, 1898.)

INVE/VTUH ATTORNEY 2 Sheets-Shet'l.

(No Model.)

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Patented Feb. 7, I899.

M. L. DEERING. TOWING MACHINE FOR VESSELS. (Applflcation filed Oct. 16,1895. Renewed Nov. 30, 189 8.]

2 Sheets-$heat'2.

(No Model.)

WITNESSES:

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MARK L. DEERING, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO FRANCIS H. STILLMAN, OFSAME PLACE.

TOWING-MACHINE FOR VESSELS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 619,073, dated February7, 1899.

7 Application filed October 16, 1895. Renewed November 30, 1898. SerialNo. 697,849. (No model.)

To a, whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, MARK L. DEERING, of New York, (Brooklyn,) in thecounty of Kings and State of New York, have invented a certain new anduseful Improvement in Towing- Machines, of which the following is afull, clear, and exact description, reference being made to theaccompanying drawings, forming part of this specification.

This invention relates to improvements in machines to whichtowing-hawsers are attached and which are adapted to oifer a yieldingresistance to the hawser when a vessel is being towed by it; and theinvention consists of a machine comprising a hydraulic cylinder andpiston, or a plurality of such cylinders and pistons, and an air-chamberin communication with the cylinder or cylinders and comprising othermechanism interposed between the hawser and the piston or pistons andadapted to impart to the piston or pistons less motion than istransmitted to itself by the hawser and to the hawser greater motionthan is transmitted to itself by the piston or pistons, the machinehaving substantially the structure and combinations of parts describedand claimed herein.

On the accompanying sheets of drawings, Figure 1 is a top view, Fig. 2an end view, and Fig. 3 a side elevation and section in the plane a; a,Fig. 1, of the machine.

Similar reference-numerals designate like parts in the different views.

The object of this invention is to prevent the rupture of a hawser usedfor towing vessels by the plunging or sudden change of direction of oneof the vessels to which it is attached, the machine being adapted to payout the hawser when the strain upon it is greater than the normal towingstrain but less than the breaking strain of the hawser and to draw thehawser in again when it is relieved from the excessive strain.

The machine may be stationed either on the vessel that is to tow theother or on the yessel that is to be towed. Although it may compriseonly one hydraulic cylinder and piston, yet in that case the spacerequired for it is greater than can be conveniently spared on manyvessels. So to render its size unobjectionable it is constructed withfour cylinders and pistons instead of one. It then has the formrepresented in the drawings, and that is the form which is preferredunder ordinary circumstances and which is referred to specifi'cally inthe following description.

At the ends of the machine are standards 1 and 2, which are secured tothe deck of the vessel or to a platform and which are connected togetherby four horizontal rods 3. In

the front standard are fixed four horizontal cylinders 1, in each ofwhich is a piston 40. The piston-rods 41 are fastened to a crosshead 5,which travels on the four horizontal rods 3 as guides. A shaft 50, onwhich two loose sheaves 51 are mounted, is carried by the cross-head,being secured in lugs projectinginward from the cross-head. Through thefront standard 1 of the machine extends a shaft lO, which is journaledin the standard and in a pillow-block 11 several feet from the standardand on the same base with it. This shaft is at the same level as theshaft 50, carried by the cross-head 5, and is midway between the twoupper and two lower cylinders. On this shaft are two loose sheaves 12and one, 13, that is keyed to the shaft, the latter being wider on theface than either of the others. Between the front standard and thepillow-block a drum 6 is mounted loosely on the shaft 10 and providedwith a clutch 60, whereby it may be fastened to the shaft. The fourcylinders are connected at their front ends with a water and air vesselor reservoir 7 by means of a hollow yoke and a pipe 71, provided with acheck-valve '72. The reservoir may be located in any convenient placenear the other part of the machine. A wire cable 8 is attached to theshaft 50, fixed in the cross-head, and carried around the sheaves, asindicated, and fastened to the broad sheave 13 in the front standard.The towing-hawser 9 is coiled on the drum. The cable 8 is passed aroundthe sheaves and the hawser .around the drum in such a manner that thepaying out of the hawser winds the cable on the broad sheave 13 when thedrum is fastened to the shaft 10 by the clutch 60.

At the outer end of the drum is a chainwheel 61, by means of which thedrum can be revolved by power to be obtained from the engine whichoperates the capstan of the vessel, and at the other end of the drum isa surface 62, against which a brake may be made to act.

In the gate 73 of the check-valve 72 is a small orifice 74, and thevalve is so arranged that when fluid flows from the reservoir to thecylinders the gate closes and there is no passage for the fluid throughthe valve excepting through the orifice 74, and when the fiuid flows inthe opposite direction the gate opens and the fluid is not retarded byit.

Close to the bottom of the reservoir 7 are a gate 75 and a cock 76, andat or near the top of the reservoir is another cock 77.

The machine is made ready for use by pumping water and air into thereservoir 7 through the gate 75. The quantity of Water should be greatenough to fill the cylinders 4 and the yoke and pipe 71 and to stand inthe reservoir above the gate 75, and air is pumped into the reservoiruntil the pressure of the air becomes great enough to overbalance thenormal towing strain on the hawser. The Water then fills the cylinders,into which it has been forced by the air, and the pistons 40 are held inthe positions in which they are shown in the drawings, close to the rearends of the cyl'inders4. The hawser is paid out as far as desired by thecapstan-engine, the

drum being free to turn, while the shaft 10, on l which it is mounted,remains at rest. After that the drum is fastened to the shaft by theclutch 60.

When the vessels move forward, the rear vessels being pulled by thehawser, the force exerted by the hawser is transmitted through the drum,clutch, sheaves, cable, cross-head, and pistons to the water in thecylinders, and

thence to the air in the reservoir, the air forming a cushion againstwhich the force is finally directed.

pistons are drawn forward, and the air in the reservoir is compressed.

If the pistons should be forced forward to 13 and as many coils of thehawser would have been unwound from the drum or paid out as there wererevolutions of the sheave 13 in winding up the twenty-five feet ofcable;

but as the air is compressed more and more by the forward movement ofthe pistons it If the normal force is increased by I a sudden excessivestrain on the hawser, the hawser unwinds from the drum, the cable 8 iswound on the sheave 13, the cross-head and the pistons forward, thatbeing apt to happen frequently when the water is rough.

The drum is not a necessary part of the machine proper. The hawser maybe attached directly to the cable 8 and the machine will then pay outand draw in the hawser substantially in the way described.

If the machine is constructed with a single cylinder and piston, thenthe system of sheaves is placed on the prolonged axis or at the end ofthe cylinder, in order that the en.- tire strain on the piston shall bein the direction of its length, since otherwise the machine would notoperate in a satisfactory manner, even if it could be made strong enoughto withstand the enormous strain of the hawser.

The length of the machine then is at least that of the cylinder plusthat of the system of sheaves when the traveling sheaves are at theirgreatest distance from the others; but the length of the machine in theform repre sented in the drawings, it will be seen, does not exceed buta trifle that of the system of sheaves alone when it is extended, inconsequence of the arrangement of the cylinders on opposite sides of thespace occupied by the sheaves and cable 8 and the location of the axisof the traveling sheaves in front of the main part of the cross-head inlugs projecting therefrom.

Oil may be used in the cylinders instead of water, and it is expectedthat oil will be used in them when the Weather is cold enough to renderwater likely to freeze.

- If the pressure in the reservoir needs to be reduced, the cook 77 isturned and a portion of the compressed air allowed to escape, and whenit is desired to expel the water or oil from the cylinders and empty thereservoir the cooks 76 and 7 7 are both opened and the j air issues fromthe upper and the water from the front ends of the cylinders, carryingwith 1 them the rear sheaves through a distance of five feet, forexample, then twenty-five feet of the cable 8 would be wound on thesheave the lower cock.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new,and desire tosecure by Letters Patent, is

1. A towing-machine comprising a cylinder and piston, or plurality ofcylinders and pistons, and a reservoir in communication with thecylinder or cylinders,in combination with means for rendering themachine operative, said means consisting of gas confined in thereservoir under pressure and a liquid interposed between the gas and thepiston or pistons, substantially as described.

2.- A towing-machine comprising a cylinder and piston, or plurality ofcylinders and pistons, an air-reservoir, a passage connecting thereservoir with the cylinder or cylinders, and a valve in said passage,in combination with means for rendering the machine operative, saidmeans consisting of gas confined in the reservoir under pressure and aliquid interposed between the gas and the piston or pistons,substantially as described.

3. A towing-machine comprising the combination of a hydraulic cylinderand piston, or plurality of cylinders and pistons, an airreservoir incommunication with the cylinder or cylinders, and a system of sheaves,part of the sheaves being mounted on a shaft having stationary bearings,and the.others on a shaft movable in the direction of the length of thesystem, and a cable passing over the sheaves, substantially asdescribed.

4. A towing-machine comprising the combination of a hydraulic cylinderand piston, or plurality of cylinders and pistons, an airreservoir incommunication with the cylinder or cylinders, a system of loose sheaves,part of the sheaves being mounted on a shaft 10 having stationarybearings and the others on a shaft movable in the direction of thelength of the system, a sheave 13 tightly secured on the shaft 10, and acable passing over the loose sheaves and fastened to thesheave 13,substantially as described.

5. A towing-machine comprising the combination of a plurality ofhydraulic cylinders and pistons, an air-reservoir in communication withthe cylinders,and a system of sheaves and a cable passing over thesheaves, located between the cylinders and piston-rods and connected tothe piston-rods, substantially as described.

6. A towing-machine comprising the combination of a plurality ofhydraulic cylinders and pistons, an air-reservoir in communication withthe cylinders, a system of sheaves, part of the sheaves being locatedbetween the cylinders and mounted on a shaft having stationary bearingsand the others being mounted on a shaft movable in the direction of thelength of the system, a oross-headin which the shaft 50 is journaled andwhich is secured to the piston-rods, and a cable passing over thesheaves, substantially as described.

7. A towing-machine comprising the combination of four hydrauliccylinders 4, pistons in the cylinders, an air-reservoir in communicationwith the cylinders, a shaft 10 mounted in the standard in which thecylinders are secured and in a pillow-block 11 and extending between thetwo cylinders on the side of the standard toward the pillow-block, asystem of loose sheaves, part of these sheaves being mounted on theshaft 10 between two cylinders on one side and two on the other, and theother loose sheaves being mounted on a shaft 50, a cross-head in whichthe shaft 50 is journaled and which is attached to the pistonrods, asheave 13 tightly secured on the shaft 10, a cable passing over theloose sheaves and fastened to the sheave 13, and a drum 6 on the shaft10 between the pillow-block and the cylinders, substantially asdescribed.

8. A towing-machine comprising the combination of the four horizontalcylinders 4 fixed in the standard 1, pistons in the cylinders, anair-reservoir in communication with the cylinders, the shaft 10extending through the standard 1 above two of the cylinders and belowthe other two, a cross-head attached to the piston-rods and providedwith a shaft 50, guides on which the cross-head travels, sheaves mountedon the shafts 10 and 50, and a cable passing over the sheaves,substantially as described.

9. A towing-machine comprising the combination of the four horizontalcylinders 4 fixed in the standard 1, pistons in the cylinders, anair-reservoir in communication with the cylinders, a shaft mounted instationary hearings in the standardl, sheaves mounted on that shaftbetween two of the cylinders on one side and the other two cylinders onthe other side, a cross-head having lugs projecting forward from itsmain part and adapted to pass between the cylinders, a shaft 50journaled in the lugs of the cross-head, sheaves on the shaft 50, acable passing over the sheaves, and guides 011 which the cross-headtravels, substantially as described.

MARK L. DEERING.

In presence of WM. W. SHAW, 0. C. MILLER.

